Scientist trio awarded Nobel Prize for pioneering work on 'click chemistry'

New Delhi, India

Three scientists from the United States and Denmark who built the framework for a more practical kind of chemistry were given the Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday. 

The judges awarded Morten Meldal of Denmark, Carolyn Bertozzi, and Barry Sharpless of America "for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry." 

For 81-year-old Sharpless, who earned the chemistry Nobel in 2001, it was his second Nobel. Only four other people, including the Frenchwoman Marie Curie who was born in Poland, have accomplished this accomplishment. 

Sharpless joins an elite band of scientists, including John Bardeen who won the Physics prize twice, Marie Curie, who won Physics and Chemistry, Linus Pauling who won Chemistry and Peace and Frederick Sanger who won the Chemistry prize twice.

The jury stated in a statement that it "is an elegant and efficient chemical reaction that is now in widespread use." 

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At a formal ceremony in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of the scientist Alfred Nobel's death in 1896, who established the prizes in his last will and testament, the trio will each receive 10 million Swedish kronor ($917,500) as their share of the Nobel Prize. They will be presented with their awards by King Carl XVI Gustaf.

David MacMillan, a dual citizen of the United States and the United Kingdom, and Benjamin List, a scientist from Germany, were recognised by the academy last year for creating asymmetric organocatalysis, a precise method for building molecules.

Barry Sharpless and Morten Meldal have laid the foundation for a functional form of chemistry – click chemistry â€“ in which molecular building blocks snap together quickly and efficiently. Carolyn Bertozzi has taken click chemistry to a new dimension and started utilising it in living organisms.

To map important but elusive biomolecules on the surface of cells – glycans – she developed click reactions that work inside living organisms. Her bioorthogonal reactions take place without disrupting the normal chemistry of the cell.

These reactions are now used globally to explore cells and track biological processes. Using bioorthogonal reactions, researchers have improved the targeting of cancer pharmaceuticals, which are now being tested in clinical trials.

Click chemistry and bioorthogonal reactions have taken chemistry into the era of functionalism. This is bringing the greatest benefit to humankind.

“This year’s Prize in Chemistry deals with not overcomplicating matters, instead working with what is easy and simple. Functional molecules can be built even by taking a straightforward route,” said Johan Åqvist, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.

(with inputs from agencies)